![\"Dr.](\"http:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Pietrosimone-photo-by-Dan.jpg\")
<\/a>Dr. Brian Pietrosimone and doctoral students worked it for the camera, top row, from left, Michelle McLeod, Brittney Luc, Adam Lepley, Pietrosimone, Masafumi Terada and Amanda Murray, and bottom row, from left, Hayley Ericksen, Matthew Harkey and Megan Quinlevan.<\/p><\/div>The statistics energize Dr. Brian G. Pietrosimone, assistant professor in the Department of Kinesiology and \u2028director of the Joint Injury and Muscle \u2028Activation Laboratory.<\/P><\/p>\n
Conditions that include osteoarthritis, muscle strains and lower back pain affect more people than do cancer, respiratory distress, cardiovascular disease or obesity, he said. \u201cBut that\u2019s not well-publicized, maybe because everyone has aches and pains, and no one dies from them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Or do they? He noted, \u201cSuch disorders are often a gateway to these other conditions. If you have an injury to your knee or ankle, you don\u2019t walk or move well. That can cause changes in your lifestyle and help create obesity, which can lead to cardiovascular or respiratory disease.\u201d<\/p>\n
Understanding the origins of musculoskeletal disorders has been a priority for Pietrosimone since he joined UT four years ago. Last year, he teamed with department colleagues Drs. Phillip Gribble, Abbey Thomas and Charles Armstrong to combine three longstanding research sites to create the Musculoskeletal Health and Movement Science Laboratory. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s a space for many and varied avenues of research with a common goal: to improve movement for people of all ages suffering from lower-extremity joint injuries. <\/p>\n
Because two areas in the body \u2014 the brain and the spinal cord \u2014 generate movement, they are the focus of the cutting-edge research technology utilized in the labs. A study of the brain\u2019s pathways following injury to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in the knee, for instance, showed something surprising happening when the knee could no longer move correctly.\t<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone expects the loss of muscle strength following an ACL injury,\u201d Pietrosimone said. \u201cIn fact, the pathways that generate the messages from the brain and spinal cord are changed. <\/p>\n
\u201cRight now, the current paradigm for joint injury rehabilitation is that you strengthen the supporting muscles. But we need to back up our interventions and target them to the brain and spinal cord.\u201d<\/p>\n
As well, he added, UT researchers are finding that muscle weakness may originate in the brain for some patients, in the spinal cord for others: \u201cIt\u2019s very preliminary, but we\u2019re thinking this will develop into an individualized approach to health care.\u201d <\/p>\n
How a person moves is studied as well, thanks to technologies that can track and animate trajectories of movement as individuals walk, and how much force they put out with every step taken \u2014 force that the body normally distributes via the muscles. However, with many joint conditions, including osteoarthritis, energy is absorbed directly by structures of the joint, hastening its degeneration. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe use computers to show people in real-time what their bodies look like in motion and we can teach them how to move correctly via making real-time adjustments,\u201d Pietrosimone explained. \u201cThey\u2019re essentially training the cortical pathways connecting their brain and muscles.\u201d<\/p>\n
A collaboration with Dr. Michael Tevald in the college\u2019s Physical Therapy Program uses transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation to improve the function of thigh muscles \u2014 the heavy lifters \u2014 in arthritis patients. The tingling electrical stimulus reactivates the neural messages in muscles weakened by the disease, Pietrosimone said, \u201cand gives [patients] more bang for the buck in rehab.\u201d<\/p>\n
Future plans include an increased presence in UT\u2019s orthopedics program, the creation of larger patient databases to better predict outcomes, and further work with arthritis biomarkers to improve understanding of the disease that\u2019s the end stage of any physical injury.<\/p>\n
Crediting fellow faculty for the surge in research, he also singles out students, including eight doctoral students he rates as the best in the entire country. Some 20 master\u2019s candidates work on thesis projects, an integral part of the department\u2019s research, and undergraduate students play research roles as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cI tell them all that their work is part of a research push that we hope changes clinical practice someday,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe try here to be very problem-oriented. We have a lot of what you might call neat technological toys here, but we\u2019re not testing just to test things. We want to improve life for actual people. To do that, we\u2019ve often had to develop new skills, or collaborate with others who have those skills, evolving as we learn. Three years ago I would never have predicted I\u2019d be involved in biomarkers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Unconsciously invoking metaphors of motion, he added, \u201cYou chase the problem and see where it takes you. Research is not linear; it has to react and pivot easily.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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